{"id":60990,"date":"2022-01-05T07:37:38","date_gmt":"2022-01-05T07:37:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/?p=60990"},"modified":"2022-01-05T07:37:38","modified_gmt":"2022-01-05T07:37:38","slug":"my-letter-to-the-ft-on-audit-recruitment-problems-these-will-continue-so-long-a-auditors-are-seen-as-the-whitewashers-of-the-status-quo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/2022\/01\/05\/my-letter-to-the-ft-on-audit-recruitment-problems-these-will-continue-so-long-a-auditors-are-seen-as-the-whitewashers-of-the-status-quo\/","title":{"rendered":"My letter to the FT on audit recruitment problems: these will continue so long a auditors are seen as the \u201cwhitewashers\u201d of the status quo"},"content":{"rendered":"

The FT has a letter from me<\/a> in it today. This was written in response to an article in which PWC<\/a> complained that it was unable to recruit the staff it wanted. As I write:<\/p>\n

I note that PwC is worried about its ability to recruit and retain the young auditors on whom its business model depends (\u201cFocus on audit failures deters recruits, warns PwC UK boss\u201d, Report, December 29).<\/p>\n

It blames this on the government and regulators for making critical comments about audit, but the problem is of its own making.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I cannot reproduce my own letter under FT copyright rules. So let me summarise the argument, which was in five parts. I argued that young auditors would not want to:<\/p>\n